Category Archives: 36. The Power and Reward of Vulnerability

Chapter 36 – The Power and Reward of VulnerabilityExcerpt from the book:The Path Within

As we grow up many of us learned that vulnerability is a form of weakness and that we must keep our guards up against others who might exploit us. While this fear-based advice may have been a well-meaning attempt to protect you, it may have made you too guarded. If you now have your guard up against everything, you are unable to interact with the world in a way that is emotionally rewarding to you. Raising your emotional guards won’t protect you but it will imprison you.

In addition to creating resistance against the world around you, raising your guard causes you to begin to fear what might be outside this wall of resistance and as you participate less with the outside world, you begin to construct fearful, suspicious assumptions about it. You begin to imagine that your fear comes from the external Universe and you conclude it to be harmful by nature. This is a perfect recipe for anxiety.

As we navigate our lives, we come to learn that when you push someone, they tend to push back. When you fight, there is vengeance. We incorrectly assume that the Universe is also capable of vengeance and might harm us when we become vulnerable. The Universe doesn’t actually work this way; when you stop fighting the reality of the Universe, it doesn’t retaliate. Instead it actually embraces you and collaborates with you.

Becoming vulnerable to the Universe is the ultimate sign of strength, not weakness. Interacting authentically and vulnerably is how we relate with the Universe in a way that lacks all pretense and is ultimately freeing and rewarding.